A comprehensive survey of youngsters from around the world has discovered the biggest concern they have about the environment they live in is pollution.

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The global poll of more than 6,000 children in 47 countries found that, although almost one in three 10-to-12-year-olds had personally experienced such catastrophes as drought, flood or fires, their most pressing ecological concern is not natural disasters but the growing threat of pollution.

More than one in four children (29%) cited various forms of pollution as the "environmental problem they worry about most," edging natural disasters, named by 20 percent of children.

Percentages citing pollution were higher within the industrialized world. One in three (33%) children in developed countries cited pollution as their top concern, with half as many (16%) singling out global warming.

Within developing countries, pollution was named as the top choice by 26 percent of children surveyed, while 23 percent cited natural disasters.

Children in Africa and Asia placed natural disasters as their biggest worry, cited by 26 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

Among children in the Americas, pollution was far and away the biggest concern, selected by 43 percent of respondents. Next was deforestation, named by one in six (16%) children within the nine countries in Latin and South America and the Caribbean who participated in the survey.

"The Small Voices, Big Dreams survey is an ambitious, comprehensive undertaking, carried out largely on a one-on-one basis with children in literally every corner of the globe," said Anne Lynam Goddard, president and CEO of ChildFund International, a member of the ChildFund Alliance.

"Although often overlooked and discounted, theirs are important voices, including their telling perspectives on the myriad threats to our environment. Children in developing countries, in particular, have a front-row seat to environmental devastation, devastation that is often compounded within the world's poorest nations. Their observations underscore the fact children on every continent understand the importance of sound environmental stewardship, even in the face of hardship and deprivation."

Asked if they had personally experienced a natural disaster, almost three in 10 (29%) children said they had been the victims of floods, with a similar percentage (28%) saying they had endured drought. Another 24 percent said they had been through an earthquake and 22 percent a forest or bush fire.